Anyone can jump out, or you can differentiate from a majority of your own haunts scenes and the many other haunts alike. I watch and wait from a distance often giving that feeling there’s someone there, moving from a distance in the vague little light allowing them to hear my foot steps and see something coming. Slowly approaching the group they grow accustom to your presence then you can dart across the front of the group where that female that thinks there being protected on the other side of you is. They feel secure being the farthest away from you while there being set up for having the closest encounter.

I look at haunt acting as a pressure thing... you exert levels of pressure to make your guests nervous leading to fear... this can be done in an aggressive second or over time.

I am kind of jumpy aggressive but I work with my wife who is very observant and thoughtful. We are that way in life and it almost always translates into the "how" of our acting. So usually if I am just stupid as a zombie ... or too much gore... or whatever.. she comes in and is very soft and creepy and stares... and whispers... THe people I can't get to, she often can.... ANywho... things I liked to do this year as the zombie.... my 07 guy...

For 2007 I like to stare from a distance and let them know I am there... then creep up fast (unseen) into a close up area with them and make all the noise and motion your creature of choice can.

Where to scare... wherever looks good... I like to hit the leader and scare the group from him... or her... take out the strong and scare the weak all at once....

When you get in on a group move with them and size them up. There is a natural response of the brain done in the "reptilian brain" that moves you when something is coming at you. Its done BEFORE higher brain function. You can do such things as move in FAST and low and then come up to a guest in their space as a collision object and then stop where they are. You are gonna get HIT doing this.. some people give the fight response first... expect it.. and WATCH for it. You can really mess with a person if you are paying attention and backout when the swing screaming and making noise.... you can usually get those people to break down at about that point... since you exceeded their ability to defend.... if you can do this well.. you can get most men to yell in fear...

My wifes thought on the above was she always freaks the other kid out more by talking about "what do you fear" for ten minutes.... so there is always anther way....

Mirrors and actions taken to a calm uninterested person in the view of a person freaking out work as well. There have been some great studies on people feeling pins and things poked into their image in a mirror. Take that into account and look for ways to appear to violate their space, or the space of the friends by walking slowly to them and then attacking behind or along side one and stepping up to another. The impression of action is usually far more valuable than doing anything....

If the look is good hell, you can always just sneak up and stare at someone... you would be amazed at how often the "cool" guys say "Ahh F%#$&" when they realize you have been there... simple yea... but if you can creepy out the leader of a group the rest are easy.

Pick up on names.... A great thing done to my wife in Hades in Chicago when we were 18 was someone picked up on her name and the woman just kept screeching and whispering and yelling and moaning her name... she would pop up all over the place. My wife was freaking out... it made the event personal... they knew her... That kind of personal interaction can work....

Notes / Other:

Never say things like "boo", or "blah", or "get out"... make sure if you speak its right for who you are and not cheesy.

There are tons of scares...NEVER do the same thing the guy before or after you is doing. Give the people something more for their time at your show! You can stare, scream, moan.. jump at some fast, drop in from above, come up from their feet, hide in a corner in plain sight and moan, run in screaming, run right by the guest and past them to set up the second actor (I love doing this), hide in with the props, use multiple people where all of the props are people (again, great gag), the list goes on and on...

Expect not everyone to be scared and expect to get some crap.. prep some simple response ... even if they are dumb.... in the blood of the guy above if people got dumb I was just the janitor... you can default to playing along and then get creepy once they get relaxed and drop the aggression...

Always stay as who you are while a guest can see you... even if they get freaky and you have to back off don't drop your character. You can apply pressure to the people that are freaking just by how close you are... so back off but don't drop the character people always see you....

So... yea.... its a pressure thing... find the person that you apply pressure / fear to the best with the way you act... that's your hit....

Working really well I have had 15 people laughing, then screaming, then laughing then screaming again all within the scope of a ten minute single room routine.
I felt so powerfull! I could anything!!
(You just have to learn to control Mr. Ego too)

This is my first year to work in a big upscale haunt. I was picked to play the scarecrow because of my large/tall stature. I stand 6'4". The costume and mask were custom made. (BAD ASS COSTUME!!) I have alot of good ideas already but still am looking for tips on mannerisms/tactics to add to it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Scarecrows aren't supposed to be alive or moving so play to this preconception and be very still at first, the oldest scare ever, the human manniquin that comes to life!!!
If I was doing it, I would only begin with very slight, subtle movements, seen only by one or two people near you, then pause as long as you can get away with it, then maybe make a vocal sound but don't move, some will not figure out where the sound came from, give them some time to ponder this, then make your big, quick move or vocal sound whatever it will be, actual words, grunts a scream, groan....
So ideally if 8 people are walking passed you, the first one or two sees your slight movements, the next two hear your vocals, the two behind them worry because they can't tell where the sounds came from (or what they are) then the final two people get your big, quick move which scares more than just those two because it happened loudly, quickly and behind 6 of them!

Im not going to go into much detail because it vary so so so much depending on he group how well of a scare you're going to get what kind, and how you should approach it.

But...

Two things that have been working really well for me is using my heighth to my advantage, im quite short and can move quietly, so i use that to sneak up inches behind someone. More often than not if they're in a group the reactions on their friends faces will trigger an alarm to them and they spin around see me and freak. But occasionally i will shake my head and indicate to their friends not to react to me and target one or two lone people..i will move right up behind them and gently blow on the back of their neck with a rasping noise....then duck FAST.....because more often than not the person you blow on will quickly flail about in an attempt to turn around and get away from whatever they think is behind them.

Also working out front in the Q line u get to know the people you work wiht very well, so use that knowladge to set up a scare. Alot of the guys i work with we do a very straightforward setup. One character will engage a patron or a set of patrons and the other partner will sneak up behind them. The first patron will tell the group that all they have to do in order to get them to go away is play a game. usually the group says yes and the first character say count to three and turn around, at this point one of two things happen, they either turn around withought a second thought encounter the second character and freak out, or they realize that they have been set up then get to scared to turn or even move.

its hysterical when they work right

Odette

“Happiness is the sublime moment when you step out of your corset at the end of the night.”

“Actors love mental disorders, dialects, and corsets. Give them one of the three and they're happy.”

As soon as they walk in the room I start taking about what ever scene the haunt has me in like for the 2 years i was in a graveyard. I can raise my voice from my chest almost like an amp i do that at the ones that seem more scared.

My lines i love to use:
Rest In Damnation,Meat bags,Worm food,That they pathetic feces,Maggots,Baldy,Blondie, I can wait to bash their skull with my shovel, Hell is like heaven after what we will put you though, I can't wait to see you bleed.
Heart warming things like that.

After about 90 minutes as I lead them through my house.
Want to scare the more timid one hiding behind the braver one?
I have a pitch black spot where everyone naturally hesitates. As the brave one moves into this extreme darkness I pinch a collar or arm(I can see them) and gently pull them towards me. Often times this works, that person not crying out or really making any warning sound, then I place them beside of me in this darkness as we watch the victim move toward us, thinking everything is all right because of no reaction from the first, braver person.
Then all I do is take my finger off of the little kill-switch, which turns the light on as I make a "Meow" which startles or scares them but at the same time possibly reassures them because it just might be a real animal,.. cat?
Of course if the first person walking into the dark happens to scream as I go to pull them towards me, so much the better as this scares the people behind them. ("they screamed !? And they are braver than me!!??")
Some things that I do when I'm running the house by myself I do not want my October employees doing since the situation is so different then. The customers and the employee do not get to spend 90 minutes with one another and touching the "wrong" person is not something that should be happening.
I also believe that this is why I have never been punched by a customer (am I cursing myself by publically saying this now?) They see and hear me and see what I am not doing to them throughout the tour so very possibly a trust developes, they trust me not to do or say certain aggressive things.
I am too busy slowly creeping into their conscious perceptions and planting little doubts which can play very well as their tour here progresses......

Not speaking at all. Grunting and snorting like a pig would.
Found that a spot light is very effective. You can sort through the crowd and single one out and have at it. Cut the light off and every time they see the light hit them they usually take off.
I work the Q lines and ticketing so creeping into the lines and standing right at someones back or beside them until they turn my direction and let it play out from there. I will go to the bleachers and sit next to someone eating and minding my own business. Usually clears the area around me. I think it's the sweat running out of my pig nose. lol
My problem is that they see me so much that by the end of the night I am doing photo shoots non stop but that is what the owner wants. A personality that will play the crowd and interact